we had a loud concert, till, what with the noise of the children, and the heat, and the dirt, and the fleas, I felt ready to rush out of doors and roll myself in the snow. But every thing must have an end, and so at last the children became all tired out, and by degress grew quiet; and in the morning I found I had been asleep, and got out of bed determined to be off as soon as I possibly could.'—p. 78—80.

The method of travelling in these parts is not at least without its apparent danger. Mr. Head met with an able driver, and they passed over their difficulties in a style worthy of the four-inhand club we question whether any members of that now, obsolete society ever took a drag down and up a hill in better style than Mr. Head's charioteer.

Occasionally, during this stage, we encountered some little ravines, or precipitous gullies, which crossed the road, and which formed small creeks or outlets of the river. There were several of these which it was necessary to pass, and at the bottom of each was a rude wooden bridge without side-rails, and scarcely broad enough to permit three horses to pass abreast; notwithstanding which, we went over with our pair always at full gallop: much to my annoyance at first, till I found that the cattle possessed quite as much sense as their driver, and sufficiently understood what they were about. The ravines were so steep, that in order to ascend one side, it was absolutely necessary to rush down the other to gain an impetus; and the distance from the top to the bottom was about one hundred and fifty yards. The bridges were composed of pine logs laid loosely together, which made a rattling and a clatter as the horses' feet came upon them. The Frenchman drove with long cord reins, without any contrivance to prevent them falling down the horses' sides, and the rest of the tackling was of an equally simple fashion. The cattle were indeed but barely attached to the vehicle; a matter of little importance during the former part of the journey, but now deserving a little more consideration for the horses, so sure as they arrived at the verge of each ravine, seemed to take all sort of charge upon themselves, while the driver, yielding to circumstances, sat still upon his seat. Up went their heads and tails, and, like a pair of hippogrifs, down they went with a dash till they reached the bridge, when, closing together, laying back their ears, and cringing in their backs, they rattled over the logs at full gallop, and up the opposite bank, till the weight of the vehicle brought them to a walk. Now came the turn of the driver; and as he was perfect in all the words which frighten horses, he used them with such emphasis, jumping out of the sleigh at the same time with considerable activity, while the animals dragged it through the deep snow, that he contrived to keep them to their collar till they had completed the ascent.'-p. 81-83.

:

The houses of the settlers on the line of road in a country so thinly inhabited as this part of North America, scarcely belong so much to the inhabitants as the travellers. They are entered

without ceremony: a salutation is scarcely considered necessary: the voyager enters, comes in after him his log of wood, and after he has thrown it on the fire, he takes down the key of the stable from its nail as if it were his own. The landlord may go to bed at night with an empty house; and in the morning find the hearth of his log-fire strewed with sturdy strangers who have dropped in at all hours of the night. "It is a question," says Mr. Head," which is best off, the pennyless guest or the host himself, who cannot, in his own house, walk across his bed-room after nine o'clock at night, without the risk of disturbing some great fellow stretched out and snoring before his fire, and who, if he happen to be trod upon, will swear as loudly as if the whole house belonged to him.

On entering a house in Canada, the stranger stands a moment on the threshold to shake off the loose snow from his feet. This operation is performed by striking the hinder part of the calf of each leg with the great toe of the opposite foot very rapidly-this is as common in Canada as making use of a mat in England, and becomes so much a habit, that the Indians never enter a room even in summer without going through the ceremony. From such origins arise national practices, which often outlive their occasion and necessity.

At Preque Isle Mr. Head was entertained at the house of a Mr. Turner, on whom he has exercised his talent for sketching: the portrait is curious: in these remote and thinly-inhabited countries, if a man has not active duties to perform, in the absence of all claims of society and all motives of excitement he sinks into a state of absolute torpor.

'My host was, I believe, an American,-a tall, withered, thin man, about sixty years of age, with extremely small legs and thighs, narrow shoulders, long back, and as straight as a ramrod. Innumerable short narrow wrinkles, which crossed each other in every direction, covered his face, which was all the same colour—as brown as a nut; and he had a very small mouth, which was drawn in and pursed up at the corners. His eyes were very little, black, keen, and deep sét in his head. He hardly ever spoke; and I do not think, that while I was in his house I ever saw him smile. He was dressed in an old rusty black coat and trowsers, both perfectly threadbare, and glazed about the collar, cuffs, and knees with grease; and he sat always in one posture and in one place,—bolt upright on a hard wooden chair. He seemed to me the picture of a man who, from want of interest in the world, had fallen into a state of apathy ;—and yet that would seem, impossible, considering that Mr. Turner was the chief diplomatist in these parts, the representative of the commissariat department, charged with the duties of supplying the garrison at Presque Isle,-a man of high importance in his station, invested with local authority,

and in direct communication and correspondence with the higher powers at Quebec. Notwithstanding all this, the energies of Mr. Turner's body and mind were suffered to lie at rest; for the garrison consisted of a corporal and four privates, making in all five men, to supply them with rations was nearly his whole and sole occupation; and so he had gradually sobered down into the quiet tranquil sort of person I found him. A daughter, a fine, handsome, bouncing girl, under twenty, with sparkling black eyes and an animated countenance, seemed to bear testimony to days gone by, when affairs were somewhat more lively; but the contrast now was sufficiently striking; for without regarding her, any body, or any thing, he kept his place and attitude, sitting always close to the stove.

'There was a small square hole in the centre of the door (as there generally is in all Canada stoves), made to open and shut with a slider as occasion requires this he kept open for a purpose of his own; for by long practice he had acquired a knack of spitting through this little hole with such unerring certainty, by a particular sort of jerk through his front teeth, that he absolutely never missed his mark. This accomplishment was the more useful to him, as he was in the habit of profusely chewing tobacco,-all the care he seemed to have!—and he opened the door of the stove now and then, to see how the fire was going on.'-p. 98—101.

From this point the pedestrian part of the voyage commenced, the most fatiguing and painful part of which was the necessity of carrying on the feet the clumsy snow-shoes. This snowshoe is a light wooden frame of an oval shape, about forty inches long and eighteen in extreme breadth, and its weight about two pounds. The whole surface within is formed of a net-work of thong, like that of a racket, but rather stouter." small square aperture about the size of a man's hand is left in the net-work, into which the toes sink at every step, by which means the foot is prevented from slipping back, and a purchase is given to step from, while the snow-shoe, forming an artificial platform, remains still in the ground. The foot is in no way confined to the machine, except by the toes, by which it is lifted or rather dragged along at each step. Such is Mr. Head's description of the shoe which to him proved an instrument of torture. The weight and the strain upon the ancle cause to those unaccustomed to the use of it, a severely painful malady, which is called the mal à raquette.

On this route Mr. Head travelled in company with the Canadians who had charge of the post letters, and who acted as his guides they were joined by the accidental travellers and settlers pursuing the same road. One of these settlers entered into conversation with Mr. Head. The relations of this man lived in the town of Ayr in Scotland, and he complained that all intercourse had ceased between him and them owing to the

miscarriage of his letters. Mr. Head agreed to take charge of one for him. The description of the poor man's difficulties in inditing an epistle in these wild regions is amusing, and may serve to shew the inconsistency of letters and hand-labour in a scarcely-settled country, and console the friends of emigrants for an apparent negligence. The letter was accomplished in a log-house where the travellers spent the evening in smoking and the night in sleeping. The writer seated himself on the ground in a corner of the room; his desk was a plate supported on his knees; his paper was as bad as well could be; his ink newly thawed and quite pale; his pen pulled out of a wildgoose's tail, was oily; his own hand was as hard as the bark of a tree, and his broad black thumb had been smashed by the blow of a hammer or an axe, and had no sort of bend in it. Nevertheless he produced a folded epistle, and Mr. Head subsequently delivered it to its address. On one occasion it blew a violent snow-storm, and no exertions of the party could enable them to reach their appointed resting-place. The consequence was, that they were obliged to spend a polar night under the inclement air, which makes a citizen in snug quarters tremble with horror and apprehension. The narrative of this night's efforts forms an encouraging picture of the resources of human power. It begins thus

sea.

But, in spite of every obstacle, the strength of the two Canadians was astonishing; with bodies bent forward, and leaning on their collar, on they marched, drawing the tobogins after them, with a firm, indefatigable step; and we had all walked a little more than seven hours, when the snow-storm had increased to such a pitch of violence, that it seemed impossible for any human creature to withstand it; it bid defiance even to their most extraordinary exertions. The wind now blew a hurricane. We were unable to see each other at a greater distance than ten yards, and the drift gave an appearance to the surface of snow we were passing over, like that of an agitated Wheeled round every now and then by the wind, we were enveloped in clouds so dense, that a strong sense of suffocation was absolutely produced. We all halted: the Canadians admitted that farther progress was impossible; but the friendly shelter of the forest was at hand, and the pines waved their dark branches in token of an asylum. -We turned our shoulders to the blast, and comfortless and weatherbeaten, sought our refuge. The scene, though changed, was still not without interest; the frequent crashes of falling trees; and the cracking of their vast limbs as they rocked and writhed in the tempest, created awful and impressive sounds; but it was no time to be idle: warmth and shelter were objects connected with life itself, and the Canadians immediately commenced the vigorous application of their resources. By means of their small light axes, a good sized maple tree was in a very few minutes levelled with the earth, and in the mean time we

cleared of snow a square spot of ground, with large pieces of bark ripped from the fallen trees. The fibrous bark of the white cedar, previously rubbed to powder between the hands, was ignited, and blowing upon this, a flame was produced. This being fed, first by the silky peelings of the birch bark, and then by the bark itself, the oily and bituminous matter burst forth into full action, and a splendid fire raised its flames and smoke amidst a pile of huge logs, to which one and all of us were constantly and eagerly contributing.

Having raised a covering of spruce boughs above our heads, to serve as a partial defence from the snow, which was still falling in great abundance, we sat down, turning our feet to the fire, making the most of what was, under circumstances, a source of real consolation. We enjoyed absolute rest! One side of our square was bounded by a huge tree, which lay stretched across it. Against this our fire was made; and on the opposite side towards which I had turned my back, another very large one was growing, and into this latter, being old and decayed, I had by degrees worked my way, and it formed an admirable shelter. The snow was banked up on all sides nearly five feet high, like a white wall; and it resolutely maintained its position, not an atom yielding to the fierce crackling fire which blazed up close against it.

'The Canadians were soon busily employed cooking broth in a saucepan, for they had provided themselves much better with provisions than I had. I had relied upon being able to put up with the fare I might meet with, not taking into consideration the want of traffic, and distance from the civilized parts of the province; owing to which, the scanty provision of the inhabitants could not allow them to minister to the wants of others, although they might be provided with a sufficiency for themselves. And I now saw the guides pulling fresh meat out of the soup with their fingers, and sharing it liberally with my servant, whom they had admitted into their mess. The poor fellows seeing that I had nothing but a piece of salted pork, which I had toasted at the fire on a stick, offered me a share of their supper, but this I felt myself bound to decline. My servant had fewer scruples, and consequently fared better. In return for their intentions gave them a good allowance of whiskey, which added to their com fort and increased their mirth. One by one they lighted their tobacco pipes, and continued to smoke; til, dropping off by degrees, the whole party at last lay stretched out snoring before me.'—pp. 121–125.

1

At

We cannot go on with this extract: but have quoted enough to shew that even in the depths of a North American forest, buried in snow, and deprived of every ordinary succedaneum of civilized life, a man needs only to be bold and persevering. the time when our traveller arrived at the St. Lawrence, that mighty river was not fixed by the frost. Its rapid torrent was carrying down immense masses of ice, and was frozen over for a considerable distance from each bank. The traverse was a service of danger, and indeed only practicable to the hardy and VOL. XII.-Westminster Review.